Overview
Plant cell walls store most of the carbon captured through photosynthesis and are an abundant renewable source for sustainable fuels, chemicals, and advanced materials. However, the complex structure of lignocellulose remains a major challenge for efficient biomass deconstruction, creating a need for new methods to study cell wall composition, structure, degradation, and the kinetics of biomass-degrading enzymes.
Researchers at Ames National Laboratory are developing the first integrated nano-FTIR and single- molecule localization microscopy (SMLM) platform to directly link single-molecule enzyme degradation dynamics with the nanoscale chemical composition and structure of biomass. By combining far-field SMLM with near-field nano-FTIR, the project will correlate the behavior of lignin-modifying enzymes with the chemical composition of isolated lignin and plant cell walls, providing new insights to improve biomass deconstruction.
In the first year, the team will demonstrate a proof-of-concept integrated nano-FTIR–SMLM platform capable of correlating lignin-modifying enzyme dynamics with the nanoscale chemical composition of biomass. In the future, the platform will be expanded to study additional biomass-degrading enzymes and more complex plant tissues, creating a versatile tool for improving biomass deconstruction and advancing sustainable bioenergy and bioproduct technologies.
This research is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Biological and Environmental Research, Biological Systems Science Division. Ames National Laboratory is operated for the U.S. Department of Energy by Iowa State University under Contract No. DEAC02-07CH11358.
Principal Investigator: Emily Smith
Co-PIs: Nigel Reuel, Xueyu Song, Jigang Wang